Eateries May Flip Over Robo-cook

With the dexterity of a human wrist, Flipper placed the burgers on the griddle and then salted, turned and pressed them to a sizzle. After a fluid but precise pivot, the yellow, one-armed robot changed tools and squirted predetermined amounts of pancake batter onto a separate grill. Then, changing tools again, it went back to the burgers.

Turn, press, sizzle.

In 5 minutes and 24 seconds, nine hamburgers and 12 golden brown pancakes--each the same size--were ready to be served. And Flipper, after scraping the grease off the griddle, was set to go back to its 16-hour, seven-day-a-week work shift, doing the work of two people.

The assembled crowd was impressed.

"It's just beautiful," gushed Kamal Mustapha, a chef who runs four restaurants in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. "This is amazing."

Flipper is more than an entertaining stop along the seemingly endless rows of displays and demonstrations at the National Restaurant Association convention, which opened over the weekend at McCormick Place. It is a tantalizing prospect for restaurant operators who have grown weary of the chronic minimum-wage labor shortage and an argument that robotics may eventually play the same role in restaurants that robots have assumed in automobile assembly plants.

"No insurance, no taxes, no training, no holidays, no back talk, no-ooo problem," said the young lady pitching Flippers for AccuTemp Products Inc. of Ft. Wayne, Ind. "The robot's time has come."

Perhaps. Although the display may be no more than a talking point, it is a timely reminder of the consequences of historically low unemployment in the United States. Manpower Inc., the temporary staffing agency, released a report Monday showing an unprecedented labor crunch for manufacturers of non-durable goods, such as food and fuel, and for wholesalers and retailers. The survey said labor markets would remain tight this summer, with demand for workers climbing to record heights. More than one-third of U.S. companies anticipate hiring new employees, the survey said.

This is a familiar refrain in the restaurant industry. "I can't find experienced people anymore," Mustapha said. "All I get is inexperienced people, and they want $10 to $15 an hour--and that's with no experience."

The restaurant association said its members are constantly struggling to fill the need for workers at fast-food restaurants. "We employ 11 million people now, and we're going to need more," said Steven Anderson, president and chief executive of the association. "We're projecting a need for another 2 million by 2010. Our biggest concern is where to find these folks."

What about robotics? "It's absolutely going to happen. It's real," said Gene Tippmann, president of AccuTemp, which builds griddles and steamers for restaurants. Tippmann developed Flipper six months ago to attract attention at national restaurant shows. "I did it as a show stopper," he said.

Tippmann said the robot had been used by IBM Corp. in computer assembly before he refitted the machine to perform a wide array of cooking tasks--eggs, hamburgers, french fries. He said his company is in talks with Domino's Pizza for pizza production and with other firms for other uses. Tippmann said his company probably will have three or four robots out in the next year; a five-year lease package cost for the robot, griddle and steamer is $150,000.

"This is doing a job that is not a very nice job," Tippmann said, noting that one robot can do 500 hamburgers or 300 orders of french fries in an hour.

Rick Abramson, president and chief operating officer of Delaware North Parks Services of Spaceport Inc., at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, watched with measured interest as Flipper turned the burgers.

"It's not just trying to find employees that is a problem--it's finding employees who want to work," Abramson said. "Anytime unemployment is less than 5 percent, it's a real problem. In Orlando, waitresses are getting $500 signing bonuses."

Abramson said the value of a robot may be more promotional than practical. "It could be exhibit-oriented, drawing people in," he said. "Working at a show is one thing. Working 364 days a year is another."

Joe Senger, marketing director at Del Taco in Laguna Hills, Calif., said he was impressed by the potential cost savings but added: "What does this say to your customers and your people? It's still a people business, even if you can't find people to work," Senger said.

The restaurant association's Anderson demurred when asked to comment on the future of robots in the restaurant business. Technology, he said, will play "a huge role" in the future of the industry, but he said he's not so sure about robots. "After all, growing up as a kid, I always thought we'd all be flying cars like George Jetson."